Modi Government eyes 50 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccine in its first purchase

The Central government is contemplating an initial order of around 50 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccine for frontline workers, army personnel, and certain other groups of people, according to report.

As COVID-19 continues to be a challenge across the world, the urgent need to make vaccine accessible to frontline workers and the most vulnerable citizens is being examined.

India currently has three COVID-19 vaccine candidates that are in the different phases of clinical testing. These include India’s first indigenous coronavirus vaccine candidate COVAXIN jointly developed by Bharat Biotech and ICMR, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D and the Oxford’s ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (dubbed Covishield in India).

According to a TOI report, the prioritisation of the vaccine has been under discussion in government alongside planning supply chains and distribution - should a vaccine be approved and become available.

ICMR chief Balram Bhargava told a parliamentary panel on Wednesday that emergency authorisation of a vaccine could be considered if the government decides so, even as the government plans to scale up distribution to ensure that a large section of the population is covered in the shortest possible time.

The report, citing official sources, said local vaccine makers who asked the government for estimates of an assured market - as more than one shot is likely to be manufactured around the same time, or possibly with a gap of few weeks by the end of this year or early next year - have been assured that a huge demand from customers is estimated.

“Vaccine development involves huge investments and we have to dedicate some of our capacities to ramp up production of COVID-19 vaccines.

This is why the government must indicate an assured market,” the report said quoting a senior executive from one of the local vaccine manufacturers.

The national expert group on vaccine administration for COVID-19, headed by Niti Aayog member V K Paul and healthy secretary Rajesh Bhushan, during a meeting with leading vaccine manufacturers on Monday, had asked the firms to submit proposals detailing their production capacity, price ranges and suggestions on how the government can assist them.

According to the official, the government is looking at various options, which includes financial assistance for advance manufacturing of vaccines, if required, although the expert committee is expected to hold a few more meetings before finalising a plan, said the report.

The committee has also asked for suggestions on the selection of vaccine candidate from the Standing Complex Sub-Committee of the National Complex Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) - the apex advisory body on vaccines.

It may be noted that the expert group had held discussions on financial resources required for the procurement of coronavirus vaccine as well as various options of financing the same.

The COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila are nearing completion of phase e trials. The Oxford’s candidate being handled by Serum Institute of India will enter the phase-2 (b) trials this weekend.

About 1,700 patients have been identified at 17 centres across the country for the trials.

As of August 20, India’s Covid-19 cases stood at 12,07,539 as per data collated from state governments, according to worldometer.Worldwide, COVID-19 has so far affected as many as 22,465,840 people and claimed at least 787,918 lives.